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Health Survey for England 2007

Healthy lifestyles: knowledge, attitudes and behaviours

Did you know?

Only 27% of men and 31% of women ate the recommended five or more portions of fruit or vegetables per day.

from : Health Survey for England 2007

Summary

The 2007 Health Survey for England focused on the general public's attitudes towards smoking, drinking, eating and physical activity.

We established what people think about these lifestyle behaviours and how aware they are of Government health recommendations. Read the 2007 findings here.

Not surprisingly, lifestyle behaviours have a major impact on people's health and they are important risk factors for many illnesses and conditions.

In this year the survey also looked at childhood obesity and the impact of the smokefree legislation which was introduced in England in July 2007. To do the research:

• Interviewers asked participants about their general health, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol consumption and smoking.
• Height and weight measurements were also recorded.
• Nurses recorded key measurements including blood pressure and waist and hip circumference.
• Urine and saliva samples were also collected from all those who gave their consent.

Potential policy impact

The Health Survey for England is funded by The NHS Information Centre and informs health policy in England.

The 2007 results are being used to make sure that messages about healthy lifestyles can be effectively targeted at specific groups within the population.

Methods

In 2007 a total of 6,882 adults and 7,504 children were interviewed.

Participants were selected using a random probability sample. The survey design ensures that every address has an equal chance of being included in the survey and the results are representative of the English population living in private households.

Data was collected through an interview, and if participants agreed, a visit from a specially trained nurse.

Next steps

You can read the findings here, or else learn more about the series.

Using the links below, you can download the full report, a detailed summary, or the methodology and documentation. For further use of the data, see:

• Trend tables for key statistics.
• An analysis of mode effects using data from the Health Survey for England 2006 (carried out using face-to-face interviews) and the Boost Survey for London (carried out largely using a self-completion questionnaire) - this examines the extent to which results from the two surveys are comparable.
• Health Survey for England Bloodbank Project - Since 1994, around 100,000 blood samples taken as part of the Health Survey for England have been stored after analysis for the survey dataset. The NHS IC invites researchers to apply to use these samples in their work.

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Of interest: